After the Baltic City Council’s October meeting, the group okayed a move to begin planning for a city community center. And last week mayor Mike Wendland updated councilors on the progress the committee, which has had three meetings thus far, has made in the planning.

Working with Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) rep Steve Robinson, the committee had outlined the needs of the facility, including space for community gatherings both small and large, as well as restroom, kitchen, office and equipment room space.

“You’ve got to be able to seat 300 people,” councilor Calvin Whiting said of potential large gatherings. He said that a capacity around that level would allow for some flexibility. “With that, you’ve got options.”

And at the community center committee’s Nov. 12 meeting, SEH presented three possible layouts to consider, with varying total sizes. The smallest option was 108 feet by 82 feet, the medium one was 113 feet by 79 feet and the largest was 150 feet by 85 feet.

The building, which would be erected at Sixth Street and Lovely Avenue near the baseball diamonds, includes a large main room, as well as smaller meeting rooms and a kitchen in varying sizes.

Finance officer Elaine Hendrickson expressed concern with the smaller options in terms of kitchen size, namely the ability to fit sometimes 15-20 helpers for bigger community events. “Four hundred square feet isn’t going to be enough for a kitchen,” she said.

Another feature tossed around at the meeting was arranging the larger room and its smaller fellows in a way so that they could be combined easily into one large hall.

The Baltic mayor hopes for lots of discussion in the forthcoming planning.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “The community has been absolutely fantastic. The committee is engaged, and everyone is realistic.”

Planning for the community center began about 12 years ago, with the most recent incarnation generally the same as previously proposed. At the time, a 7,500-square-foot building was proposed and estimated at $436,000.